Some intitial thoughts...
Now there's a jam-packed text.
People are hungry-- they want food, but they want more than food. They want Jesus. Verse 2 says, "A large crowd kept following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing for the sick." They recognize something special about Jesus-- and event if they aren't sure what it is-- they want to be a part of it. Jesus is healing folks, and maybe they want to be healed to. (Interestingly enough, this same idea of people wanting healing showed up in last's weeks lectionary selection from Mark.) Somehow there is a connection to being hungry and needing healing.
John's telling of the feeding is interesting. Here, Jesus is the one asking "Where are we going to buy bread to feed these people." In the other gospels, the disciples are the ones panicking that people are hungry.
Jesus impresses the people-- and they want to make him their king. But as Jesus does, he goes all introvert on them and withdraws. And the disciples go on without him-- which also is a parallel to last week's lesson from Mark. Suddenly a storm comes up, the disciples are terrified, and Jesus goes walking across the lake to get to them.
Three words sum up the passage-- and maybe, more largely, our lives as Christians: Starving (We need something and hope Jesus can whip it right up) Storming (Storms loom over us and we panic) and Saving (no matter the crisis, Jesus stands with us-- our problems matter.)
As I think about preaching this passage, I think those three words are important. But I'm also fairly intrigued by how these words partner up with the words from Mark 6:30-24, 53-56. What are the lectionary folks getting at here? What are Mark and John saying about Jesus and our need for healing?
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